Please detail present or past leadership positions, or special interests, within that office: Currently, I sit on the policy board and I have been working as an honest broker to ensure that the teachers at the Pleasant Hill get a fair and equitable contract. I have also been seeking grant funding for after school programming that we currently can not afford based on the current finances of the school district.

OCCUPATION: Diversity Retention Coordinator

PREVIOUS RELEVANT OCCUPATIONS: Resource Developer

EDUCATION: Limestone High School, Parkland Community College, University of Illinois

COMMUNITY ACTIVITIES: Junior Achievement- classroom consultant, volunteer for Destination Technology, Diversity Study circle facilitator, worked with 30 District 150 teachers to develop career based curriculum, Multi-Cultural Recruitment and Retention committee member and a host of other volunteer initiatives in the community.

What do you consider your 2 or 3 most important accomplishments in office, in your profession or in the community?

In my capacity as a school board member, I count my ability to work with the teachers union and the school board and acting as an honest broker between those two entities to move contract negotiations forward as an extremely significant accomplishment. I created and developed Emerging Leaders, a mentoring program, that connects 50 minority, college aged students with young professionals in the community in their (the students) desired profession. I am extremely proud of the fact that I now serve as the Chairperson (on the ICC side) for the City of Peoria's initiative, Peoria Promise. Peoria Pro mise will ensure that every graduating senior, starting May 2008, has the opportunity to go to Illinois Central College free of charge. This initiative changes the paradigm for many students in the district. The question, "Are you going to college" has just changed to, "Where are you going to college?"

ILLINOIS LEGISLATIVE CANDIDATES' QUESTIONNAIRE

1. This year, the Legislature agreed to a $1 billion rate-relief package with Ameren and ComEd. Did this deal go far enough to mitigate residential rate hikes? Why/why not? What else can or should be done to keep electricity costs lower?

This deal does not go far enough. Years of artificially suppressed rates have created greater pressure for such a large increase once the caps are removed. However, it is unfair to consumers to be hit with such a large increase overnight. Provisions should be made for both a more gradual increase at regular intervals, but only as necessary, coupled with a move away from dependence on energy generated from the consumption of fossil fuels. The state can and should support greater diversity in energy generation, moving toward sustainable energy development.

2. Legislative leaders and the governor were at a lengthy impasse this summer over the state budget. What can be done to forestall another budget showdown? Do you believe Illinois needs a capital budget to fund new transportation projects? If so, how would you pay for it? Should gambling be expanded?

To forestall another budget impasse, legislators can and should take a proactive role in budget negotiations beyond exclusive reliance on legislative leadership, reaching across partisan and geographic differences based on an understanding of shared interests. The state desperately needs a capital budget, particularly in downstate Illinois, where infrastructure improvements provide essential support to both employment figures and the broader economy. I would support paying for a capital budget through a mixed approach, eliminating both wasteful spending and tax loopholes to ensure that everyone in Illinois pays their fair share. Further, I would support a modest expansion of gaming to meet critical public needs, but do not view gambling as a long-term strategy for economic growth and development.

3. Affordable health care is a major concern across the nation. Do you support the governor's push this year to make coverage available to all Illinois residents? If no, why not? If yes, how would you fund such an expansion?

I support the goal of universal health care, but am concerned about our ability to pay for it. This problem is shared by states across the nation and only a comprehensive approach at the national level is truly feasible. A state-by-state band-aid approach disadvantages those states without sufficient market size and power to impact costs and achieve economies of scale. I would prefer a national solution, but in its absence, would support a preventative health care strategy to try to minimize costs on the front end to prevent costlier outlays long-term. I would use the state's negotiating power and market size to push pharmaceutical costs down and use any cost savings to assist in rapid payment of indigent and working poor health care providers.

4. Illinois has the highest unfunded pension liability in America. Would you support a moratorium on pension increases for state and local workers? Higher taxes to cover underfunding? Where do you stand on unfunded mandates, particularly in regard to benefit increases such as pensions?

I would support a moratorium on increases until the state is able to pay its outstanding obligations. I would further fight to limit the state's expansion into new initiatives, other than increasing funding as it relates to education and health care, to ease some of the fiscal strain. I would not support a tax increase to fund pension shortfalls unless it was demonstrated that the state's obligations could not be met by holding down new spending.

5. What changes should be made in the way Illinois funds its schools, if any? Should the state attempt to tie reforms to increases in funding - for example, mandated unit (K-12) school districts, longer school day and year? Please elaborate.

I would support a shift in the funding strategy away from a reliance on property taxes, which penalizes children in areas where property taxes are insufficient. I would support linking greater funding to local districts to a plan for other improvements, such as reducing the student-to-teacher ratio.

6. Would you support a plan to turn legislative redistricting over to an independent, non-partisan panel? Why or why not?

I would not be opposed to an independent , non-partisan panel, if there has been a long history of those elected officials having been fair and uncorrupt in the past and doing a good job in the redistricting of legislative districts.

7. In light of recent convictions and ongoing criminal investigations at the highest levels of Illinois politics, do you support ethics legislation, campaign financing reforms, tighter hiring rules in Illinois? If so, give specifics for what that legislation should entail. If not, please explain.

I support continued ethics reform, including campaign contribution limits, stricter reporting requirements and the banning of meals, trips and other honoraria. Also, pay to play politics must end. The "average Joe" should have the same opportunity to do business with state as a political investor.

8. What would you do to ensure that you're an independent voice for central Illinois and not another vote for your party's political caucus?

To retain my autonomy, I would meet with and caucus with legislators from areas similar to the 92nd State Representative District and support bipartisan measures aimed at addressing the needs of this community, regardless of the position of my party and its leadership.

9. Nursing homes, pharmacists and other Medicaid providers say the state is persistently late in paying for services. How would you reduce the reimbursement cycle?

The first thing I would do as a legislator is to push for a state resolution to urge the Illinois Congressional Delegation to lobby for an increase in the current dollars Springfield gets from Washington D.C. as oppose to what is about to happen. As of right now, the funding that comes into Springfield is about to be lowered. With an increase in funding the state could then pay its bill in a more timely fashion.